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Bus camera catches legislator running red light, hitting bicyclist

A camera on a Madison transit bus caught a legislator running a red light and hitting a bicyclist last month.

A camera on a Madison transit bus caught a state legislator running a red light with his SUV, and injuring a bicyclist last month.

Police ticketed Rep. Fred Clark, D-Baraboo, for going through the red light, and the 56-year-old cyclist was treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

The crash happened Aug. 18, and Madison TV station WKOW recently showed the video from the transit bus.

It showed a light turning green and a bicycle behind the bus moving into a downtown intersection near the State Capitol.

About 2.5 seconds later, Clark's SUV blind-sided the biker.

Clark told the Wisconsin State Journal he couldn't say much about the mishap, out of respect for the cyclist, whom he called a colleague and a friend.

Neither he nor police would name the rider, but the State Journal says it's seeking the accident report.

Mick Rusch of the Madison Metro transit system said about a quarter of its 200 buses have video cameras as a safety measure and that number grows each day. They shoot pictures both inside and outside the buses.